Sam Young

The San Antonio Spurs have 14 guaranteed contracts on their roster and they may go into the season with just that many. But they can add a 15th guy. They have identified a need — a physical three who can play limited minutes off the bench in certain matchups as a backup to Kawhi Leonard…

When we last saw Sam Young, he was trying to get under the skin of LeBron James as a member of the Indiana Pacers during last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. Indiana’s bench (along with their ridiculous amount of turnovers) was considered the team’s primary weakness last year, and after upgrading in that department with the…

George Hill picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and after he hit a technical free throw on his way to the bench (thanks to jawing between Mario Chalmers, David West and Udonis Haslem), the Pacers led by two points. By the time Hill…

No single person can guard LeBron James even competently over the course of an entire game. It takes multiple skilled defenders, along with a solid team defensive strategy just to slow the game’s best player into turning in a below average performance. The Pacers were successful against James in Game 4, limiting the league’s MVP…

Late in the fourth quarter of the Pacers’ Game 2 win over the Heat, Dwyane Wade elevates to try to get past Lance Stephenson just after he crosses half court. It appeared as though Wade was simply trying to hustle to get into defensive position, and had no intention of making any malicious contact. But…

There is no way that should have been a technical. It’s the playoffs, we want emotion, we want a little feisty play… and frankly that wasn’t that feisty. There are Tuesday night games in Minnesota in January that were more emotional than that play. But Scott Foster has the fastest trigger in the NBA for…

Pacers coach Frank Vogel had his reasoning — the Heat with their small lineup had five guys who can shoot from the perimeter so he wanted to match that with a small lineup that could switch everything. Twice in the last 10.8 seconds he pulled the 7’2” rim-defending center and went small with Tyler Hansbrough…

America, meet Paul George. He’s the Pacer that hit the insane, dramatic three pointer that sent Game 1 against the Heat into overtime. He’s the guy that drew the superstar call on Dwyane Wade, then with ice water in his veins hit three free throws to give Indiana the lead with 2.2 seconds left in…

Welcome to PBT’s roundup of yesterday’s NBA games. Or, what you missed while being jealous of the guy with the best job in journalism…. Heat 108, Magic 94: This felt like a lot of the Heat’s recent wins — start slow, crank up defensive pressure, follow LeBron James to a win. That formula worked again…

We’ve already seen some, and in the next 24 hours your are going to see a lot more moves of guys who have barely gotten any run — then you are going to start to see 10-day contract guys fill their place on the bench. The deal is that by today at 5 p.m. (Eastern),…

Our nightly roundup of all the action in the NBA. Or, what you missed while thinking at least one drug dealer really cares…. Grizzlies 107, Thunder 97: We told you last week in the power rankings Memphis was for real. Believe us now? Brett Pollakoff broke down this game for us. Clippers 107, Heat 100:…

Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points like Packers fans like bratwurst. • We are in the “everyone looks good working…

At this point, you have to wonder if the Nets will be sad when they have no more roster spots to spend money on. Yahoo Sports reports that the Nets are considering several options for their final two available roster spots including… Eddy Curry. The Nets could use Curry. They’re not particularly loaded down low…

He’s asking for it. OK, stop, that right there. That’s me trying to snag your attention with some sort of bombastic statement. I can assure you my position is more nuanced than this phrase, which by the way, in the context of violence of any sort — on-court, off-court, sexual, non-sexual — should never, ever…

We’re thee days past the trade deadline. Some players have already landed and played a game with their new teams, some haven’t even arrived in their new destinations (does Hasheem Thabeet really have that busy of a calendar?). But we’re starting to recover from the shock of a still-nuts-if-quieter-than-last-year deadline that saw two coaches let go…

Best season in franchise history from an overall success and excitement standpoint. First playoff game victory. First playoff series victory. Significant improvements in fan interest and long-term viability of on-court production. Things have been going really well in Memphis, Tennessee when it comes to the Grizzlies. So, of course, this is happening. From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal:…

The 76ers had moved past Andres Nocioni — he had touched the court just once in the last seven games, and that was for a four-minute stretch. He’s played 56 minutes all season. So it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Sixers have bought out his contract Friday, as reported by Dei Lynam at…

Dwight Howard didn’t get traded and neither did any of Boston’s big three. But there were plenty of moves at the deadline. Here are our grades for each team. Atlanta Hawks: They wanted to move one player to get themselves under the luxury tax line (they are $440,000 over it). They couldn’t do it. So…

Here it is — the one place where all the NBA’s trade deadline news and rumors will be. With our thoughts on everything. This post will be constantly updated throughout the day as the newest information becomes available. Just hit refresh and you will know the latest. The trade deadline is 3 p.m. Eastern (all…

What you missed while Iowa was the center of the political world for a night… Bulls 76, Hawks 74: This ugly but exciting contest was our Game of the Night. Portland 103, Oklahoma City 93: Portland wants you to know they are contenders, too. Or they at least are starting to look like it early…

In a trade that if it winds up affecting the NBA season means something has gone horribly horribly wrong, the Memphis Grizzlies traded guard Greivis Vasquez to the New Orleans Hornets for guard-forward Quincy Pondexter. Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins has spoken highly of guard Jeremy Pargo backing up it Mike Conley in preseason play,…

This is the next installment of PBT’s series of “What your team should do when the lockout ends.” Today it’s the Memphis Grizzlies. You can also read up on all the teams in the Western Conference here, and on Tuesday we start with the Eastern half of the league. Last Season: Well, that worked out…

Shane Battier isn’t quite the defensive force he once was; even the plus-minus data that illustrated his worth to teams like the Houston Rockets — not to mention made him the subject of Michael Lewis’ renowned piece for The New York Times — has turned on him of late, leaving Battier as merely a competent defender…

It defies all logic, but there has become a “the Grizzlies should trade Rudy Gay” movement. The theory goes that since they won their first playoff game ever, their first playoff series ever and pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games while he was out injured that they are better off without him. I’m…

The Memphis Grizzlies did not have a great Sunday, with their fun run of a season coming to an end. But no Griz player had a worse Friday than Sam Young. First, for Game 6 Young lost his starting job to O.J. Mayo. Coach Lionel Hollins had seen the Thunder adjust and slow Zach Randolph,…